Physically
and Mentally Disabled Citizens Protection Act
The whole
enacted text of 26 articles promulgated by
President
Order Tai-Tung (1)-Yi-Tzu
No.3028 June 2, 1980
The whole
amended text of 31 articles promulgated by
President
Order Hua-Tsung-Yi-Tzu No.0424
January 24, 1990
Amended
Article 3 promulgated by
President
Order Hua-Tsung-Yi-Tzu No.4056
June 16, 1995
The
whole amended text of 75 articles promulgated by
President
Order Hua-Tsung-Yi-Tzu
No.8600097810 April 23, 1997
The
whole amended text of 65 articles promulgated by
President
Order Hua-Tsung-Yi-Tzu
No.8600101190 April 26, 1997
Amended
and promulgated by
President
Order Hua-Tsung-Yi-Tzu
No.9000224680 November 21, 2001
President
Order Hua-Tsung-Yi-Tzu
No.092006210 June 25
Amendment of Article 26
and Article 62 and the additional Article 64-1 are promulgated
by
President Order
Hua-Tsung-Yi-Yi-Tzu No. 09200116210 on June 25, 2003
Additional Article 51-1
and Article 65-1 are promulgated
by President Order
Hua-Tsung-Yi-Yi-Tzu No. 09300117621 on June 23, 2004
Chapter
1 General
Principles
Article
1 This Act is enacted
to protect the legal rights, interests, and livelihood of the disabled, secure
their opportunity to participate in the social life fairly, consolidate the
governmental and private resources, plan and implement all measures of
assistance and welfare. Affairs other than prescribed in this Act shall be
governed by the regulations of other laws.
Article
2 The
competent authorities referred to in this Act are the Ministry of the Interior
at the central level, municipal governments at the municipal level, and county
(city) governments at the county (city) level.
The affairs prescribed in this Act and related to the duties of
individual competent authorities in charge of specific business shall be handled
by the competent authorities in charge of specific business
individually.
The powers and duties of the competent authorities of individual levels
and the competent authorities in charge of specific business referred to the
above two paragraphs are divided as follows:
1.
The
competent authorities take the responsibility for the plan and implementation of
the affairs concerning welfare service, such as protection of the dignity and
legal rights and interests of the disabled, establishment of basic personnel
information, examination and issuance of disability manuals, nursing service,
maintenance, livelihood, consultation, entertainment, in-home services, and so
on.
2.
The
competent authorities in charge of health take the responsibility for the plan
and implementation of the affairs concerning the examination and determination
of the disabled, medical treatment and rehabilitation, early medical treatment,
health insurance, research and development of auxiliary appliances for medical
treatment and health care, and so on.
3.
The
competent authorities in charge of education take the responsibility for the
plan and implementation of the affairs concerning the education of the disabled
and the subsidies of the required funds, teaching material for special
education, teaching, research and development of auxiliary appliances,
examination and approval of teachers for special education, training and
cultivation of various professionals referred to in this Act, schooling and
social education of the disabled, and so on.
4.
The
competent authorities in charge of labor take the responsibility for the plan
and implementation of the affairs concerning the vocational training and
employment services of the disabled, execution of the obligatory employment and
employment security, protection of wages and working conditions, research and
development vocational types for employment and auxiliary appliances,
administration and use of the funds in the exclusive account of the employment
fund established for the disabled, and so on.
5.
The
competent authorities in charge of construction, public works, and public
housing take the responsibility for the plan and implementation of the affairs
concerning the privileges given to the disabled in their favor when they apply
for the retail stores or booths located in the public places owned by the
government, public housing, parking lots of the public buildings, public
facilities, buildings with access-free living environment.
6.
The
competent authorities in charge of transportation and communications take the
responsibility for the plan and implementation of the affairs concerning the
privileges given to the disabled in their favor when they use public transports
and public parking lots, access-free public transports, communication in daily
life, and so on.
7.
The
competent authorities in charge of finance take the responsibility for the plan
and implementation of the affairs concerning the reduction of and exemption from
taxation in favor of the disabled and the welfare institutions for the
disabled.
8.
Other
measures shall be implemented by individual competent authorities in charge f
specific business pursuant to their authority.
Article
3 The disabled referred
to in this Act mean the people whose functions of participating in the society
and engaging in the production activities are restricted or can not be brought
into full play due to physical or mental factors and who, after the process of
assessment, are regarded as suffering one of the following malfunctions which
are in conformity with the grades regulated by the central competent authorities
in charge of health and have received the disability
manuals:
1.
Vision
disability.
2.
Hearing
mechanism disability.
3.
Balancing
mechanism disability.
4.
Voice
or speech mechanism disability.
5.
Limbs
disability.
6.
Mentally
disability.
7.
Losing
functions of primary organs.
8.
Suffering
facial damage.
9.
Unconscious
chronically.
10. Senile
Dementia
11. Autism.
12. Chromic
psychosis.
13. Multi-disability.
14. Stubborn
(difficult-to-cure) epilepsy
15. Physical
or mental disability caused by infrequent disease and confirmed by the central
competent authority in charge of health.
16. Other
disabilities confirmed by the central competent authority in charge of
health.
The grades of the malfunctions referred to in the above paragraph, the
important organs referred to in Subparagraph 7, and the other physical or mental
disabilities referred to in Subparagraph 16 shall be determined by the central
competent authority in charge of health.
Article
4 The
dignity and legal rights and interests of the disabled shall be respected and
guaranteed. The disabled shall not be deprived of the opportunities to receive
education, take exam, get employment, or be treated unfairly only because of
their disability, unless there is evidence shows that they are
incompetent.
Article
5 To prevent and reduce
the occurrence of physical or mental disability, the competent authorities in
charge of related business in the governments of individual levels shall
systematically promote the prevention of disability, propagandize the knowledge
of eugenics, health care and prevention of physical or mental disability, and
work out laws and regulations aiming at the factors that cause disability such
as heredity, disease, disaster, environmental pollution, and so on. Besides,
they also shall promote related propaganda and social education.
Article
6 The
central and municipal or county (city) competent authorities and the competent
authorities in charge of specific business shall establish units or appoint
officers to handle the affairs concerning the rights and interests of the
disabled exclusively.
The number of the units or officers shall be determined according to the actual
requirement for providing the service.
The business related to the welfare of the disabled shall be handled by
the selected professional workers.
The standards for selecting the professional workers referred to in the
preceding paragraph and the guidelines for their training shall be determined by
the central competent authority of this Act and the central competent
authorities in charge of specific business.
Article
7 The
competent authorities of individual levels shall establish Protection Committees
for the disabled. The administrative leader acts as the chairman of the
Committee, and the competent authorities in charge of specific business, the
representatives of the disabled or their guardians, scholars and experts in the
field of the welfare for the disabled, parliamentarians, and the representatives
of the private sector or associations concerned are the members. The number of
the representatives of the disabled or their guardians, parliamentarians, and
the representatives of the private sector or associations shall be not less than
one third of the total number of the committeemen.
The Protection Committees referred to in the above paragraph are in
charge of the following affairs:
1.
Integration,
plan, research, consultation, coordination, and promotion of the affairs
concerning improving protection of the disabled;
2.
Examination
of the appeals for the damage to their rights and interests of the
disabled.
3.
Other
affairs that can improve the rights and interests, welfare, and protection of
the disabled.
Organizational regulations of the Protection Committees referred to in
the first Paragraph and disposal of the appeals for the damage to their rights
and interests of the disabled referred to in Subparagraph 2 of the preceding
Paragraph shall be determined by the corresponding competent
authorities.
The final appeals for the damage to the rights and interests of the
disabled shall be judged by the Protection Committee of the central competent
authority.
Article
8 The governments
of individual levels shall periodically investigate the living demand of the
disabled in December at least once every three years and publish the statistic
reports.
Investigation of the disabled shall be included in the population census
taken by the Executive Yuan once every ten years.
Article
9 The funds for
the welfare of the disabled are raised from the following resources:
1.
The
budgets made by the governments of individual levels exclusively for the welfare
of the disabled;
2.
Social
welfare fund;
3.
The
exclusive account of the employment fund established for the
disabled.
4.
Donations
from private individuals or associations.
5.
Other
incomes.
The
budgets for the welfare of the disabled referred to in Subparagraph 1 of
Paragraph 1 shall be made generously in accordance with the investigation
reports referred to in Article 8.
If
a municipal or county (city) government really has difficulty in making the
budget for the welfare of the disabled referred to in Subparagraph 1 of
Paragraph 1, the central government shall provide subsidy.
Article
10 The municipal and
county (city) competent authorities in charge of health shall establish
assessment teams to appoint medical institutions or assessment operation groups
to render the assessment services referred to in Paragraph 1 of Article 3. Where
the disabled who set their domiciles in the governed districts have been
confirmed to be in conformity with the regulations, the competent authorities
shall actively issue the disability manuals.
Regulations on the above-mentioned assessment shall be determined by the
central competent authority in charge of health, and regulations on issuance of
the disability manuals by the central competent authority.
Article
11 Where the condition
of the disabled changes, the disabled shall apply for re-assessment on their own
initiatives or at the instruction of the assessment team.
The disabled who don’t agree with the result of assessment and make
objection against it may submit a written application to the assessment team
within 30 days commencing from the next day after receipt of the result, to
apply for re-assessment for one time, and shall pay 40% of the assessment fees.
If the objection is accepted, the paid assessment fees will be refunded to the
disabled concerned.
Article
12 The problems
concerning assessment of the disabled and that of exemption from military
service shall be studied and consulted by the Ministry of the Interior, the
Ministry of Education, and the Department of Health together with the Ministry
of National Defense.
Article
13 Upon alteration or
elimination of the fact of disability, the disabled shall return the disability
manuals to the original departments issuing such manuals for alteration or
cancellation.
Upon finding that the disability classes and grades recorded in the
disability manuals are obviously not in conformity with the fact, the original
departments issuing the manuals shall order the disabled to take re-assessment
within a given period. If the disabled do not take the re-assessment in the
period, the departments may directly cancel the disability manuals.
Article
14 To provide timely
medical treatment and services, the related central competent authorities in
charge of specific business shall make reports and establish the following
notification systems:
1.
The
competent authorities in charge of health shall establish a notification system
for finding the infants under 6 years old suspected to be
disabled;
2.
The
competent authorities in charge of education shall establish a notification
system for finding the students suspected to be disabled;
3.
The
competent authorities in charge of labor shall establish a notification system
of vocational injuries;
4.
The
competent authorities in charge of police administration shall establish a
notification system of traffic accidents;
5.
The
competent authorities in charge of fire fighting shall establish a notification
system of emergent medical treatment and first aid;
6.
The
competent authorities in charge of household administration shall establish a
notification system of the change of movement of the
disabled.
Upon finding that there is any person suspected to be disabled as
referred to in this Act, the competent authorities in charge of specific
business shall immediately notify local competent authorities for active
assistance.
Article
15 The competent
authorities of individual levels and the competent authorities in charge of
specific business shall establish individualized professional service system and
render services on the basis of assessment performed by the professional workers
to meet the actual requirements of the disabled, and have them obtain proper
guidance and arrangement.
The individualized professional service system referred to in the above
paragraph includes case management, employment service, special education,
medical treatment and rehabilitation, and so on. The affairs concerned shall be
implemented by the competent authorities of individual levels and the competent
authorities in charge of specific business in accordance with related laws and
regulations, or commissioned to the private sector for implementation under the
guidance of the competent authorities.
Article
16 To improve the
rehabilitation of the disabled and reinforce the functions of research &
development, integration, and planning of access-free environment, the central
government shall establish or assist the private sector to establish a research
& development center for physical and mental disability.
Chapter
2 Medical Treatment and
Rehabilitation
Article
17 The central
competent authority in charge of health shall integrate the medical resources of
the country to perform physical examination for infants and provide the disabled
with proper services concerning medical treatment, rehabilitation, and early
medical treatment
The competent authorities of individual levels in charge of health shall
provide medical treatment and rehabilitation services for the disabled who are
emplaced in the preschool medical and nursing institutions, related service
institutions, and schools to meet their need.
Article
18 To reinforce the
medical treatment and rehabilitation services for the disabled and the research
& development of the auxiliary appliances for medical treatment and
rehabilitation, the local competent authorities in charge of health shall,
according to the number of each class of the disabled and their need, establish
or encourage the private sector to establish medical treatment and
rehabilitation institutions, auxiliary appliances research & development
institutions, and nursing institutions.
Article
19 Before the fees for
medical treatment and auxiliary appliances needed by the disabled for
rehabilitation are included in the coverage of the national health insurance,
the municipal and county (city) competent authorities shall subsidize the
disabled according to the grade of disability.
Regulations on the above-mentioned subsidization shall be prescribed by
the central competent authority together with the central competent authority in
charge of health.
Chapter
3 Rights and Interests of
Education
Article
20 The central and
municipal, county (city) competent authorities shall, according to the data
obtained in census of the disabled, plan and establish special education schools
or classes, or educate in other ways the disabled who can not receive schooling
in ordinary schools or classes, so as to protect their rights and interests of
education.
The
government shall provide free transport for the children in school ages who are
disabled and thus cannot go to school or return home from school by themselves.
In case the government really has difficult in providing such transport, traffic
subsidy shall be provided; if the funds raised by the municipal or county (city)
competent authority are not sufficient, the central government shall subsidize
the local government.
Article
21 The competent
authorities of individual levels in charge of education shall actively help the
disabled to receive schooling, and the schools of individual levels may not
refuse the disabled because of the class or degree of disability, or because of
the fact that the special education class (school) has not been
established.
Article
22 The competent
authority in charge of education shall, according to the grade of disability,
favor them or their children with related educational expenses. The regulations
on the subsidization shall be prescribed by the central competent authority in
charge of education.
Article
23 Upon arranging
education and entrance exam for the disabled, the competent authorities of
individual levels in charge of education shall, according to the condition of
the disabled and the learning requirements, provide necessary professional
workers, special teaching materials and all kinds of educational auxiliary
appliances, access-free campus environment, Braille books, and related education
resources, so as to create fair and reasonable opportunities and conditions to
receive education and take examination.
Article
24 The governments of
individual levels shall establish or encourage the private sector to establish
medical and nursing institutions for preschool children, and encourage
kindergartens, nurseries, and other preschool medical and nursing institutions
to arrange education, nursing services, and special training for the disabled
infants.
Article
25 To encourage the
disabled to receive to receive education in senior high schools and colleges,
the central competent authority in charge of education shall enact regulations
for implementing the encouragement.
The
above-mentioned schools that provide schooling for the disabled, if having not
the access-free software and hardware, may claim subsidies from the central
competent authority in charge of education to improve access-free campuses.
Chapter
4 Promotion of
Employment
Article
26 Governments at all levels should provide
obstacle-free individual vocational training and employment service to disabled
citizens depending on their disabled classes and grade and submit the
corresponding records of such activities to public opinion authorities at all
levels every half a year as reference.
Article
27 The competent authorities
in charge of labor shall establish or encourage the private sector to establish
vocational training and employment service institutions and, according to the
actual need of the disabled, provide vocational training, employment services,
research and development of the auxiliary appliances for the employment, and
other related services.
Article
28 When assisting the
disabled in their seeking for employment, the competent authorities in charge of
labor shall first perform vocational guidance assessment to provide proper
employment services.
Regulations on the vocational guidance assessment referred to in the
preceding paragraph shall be enacted by the central competent authority in
charge of labor.
Article
29 The competent
authorities in charge of labor shall, according to the actual need of the
disabled, subsidize them with funds needed for vocational reconstruction, loans
for creating new businesses, and use of necessary auxiliary
appliances.
The vocational reconstruction referred to in the preceding paragraph
means vocational training, vocational guidance assessment, employment services,
tracing and guidance for reemployment, and so on.
Regulations on the subsidization for vocational reconstruction, loans for
creating new businesses, and use of necessary auxiliary appliances referred to
in the first paragraph shall be enacted by the central competent authority in
charge of labor.
Article
30 The competent
authorities in charge of labor shall provide supportive and individualized
employment services for the disabled who have capability to work but are still
not able to enter the competitive employment market, and provide sheltering
employment services for the disabled who are willing to work but have no
sufficient capability to do their jobs.
The competent authorities and the competent authorities in charge of
specific business may establish or encourage the private sector to establish
sheltering plants or stores.
Article
31 A government
department, public school, or public business institution whose total number of
employees is not less than 50 shall employ the disabled with capability to work
and the number of the employed disabled employees shall be not less than 2
percent of the total number of the employees.
A
private school, association, or private business institution whose total number
of employees is not less than 100 shall employ the disabled with capability to
work and the number of the employed disabled employees shall be not less than 1
percent of the total number of the employees.
Where
the government department, public or private school, association or business
institution referred to in the above two paragraphs is a department
(institution) that has the obligation to employ the disabled, and doesn’t employ
sufficient number of the disabled in accordance with the above two paragraphs,
it shall periodically pay the difference of the subsidies to the exclusive
account of the employment fund established for the disabled by the municipal or
county (city) competent authority in charge of labor. The payment shall be
calculated through multiplying the monthly basic wage by the number of vacancy
of the disabled that should be employed but are not
employed.
Where
a department or institution employs a seriously disabled person in accordance
with the above two paragraphs, the disabled person shall be calculated as two.
The guidelines for calculating the total number of the disabled employees
obligatorily employed by the units of police administration, fire fighting,
Customs affairs, and legal affairs shall be prescribed otherwise in the
Enforcement Rules for this Act.
Article
32 To employ the
disabled, the government departments of individual levels, public schools, and
public business institutions shall request the Civil Service Yuan to arrange
special examination for the disabled and remove the unreasonable restrictions on
the grade of physical fitness of the disabled occurred in the examinations for
government employees.
Article
33 The departments
(institutions) that employ the disabled shall abide by the principle of “same
pay for same work” and treat them without any discrimination. The wages for the
disabled working in normal work time may not be less than the basic
wage.
The wages of the disabled shall be calculated according to the
calculation methods of the normal wages. If the productivity is not sufficient,
the wages may be reasonably reduced, but the reduced wages may not be less than
70 percent of the original wages.
Where any dispute arises concerning the decision of the insufficient
productivity or the amount of the reduced wages referred to in the preceding
paragraph, the disabled employee concerned may appeal to the Protection
Committee referred to in Article 7.
Article
34 The municipal and
county (city) competent authorities in charge of labor shall, with the funds in
the exclusive account of the employment fund, subsidize the departments
(institutions) that have employed the disabled to the extent of a certain level
for their expenditures on purchasing, change, repair appliances and equipment
and assistance in employment of the disabled. The competent authorities in
charge of labor may also grant rewards to the private sector, the amount of the
rewards shall be determined by the number the of the disabled extra employed by
the private sector times one half of the monthly basic wages. The use of the
rewards shall be limited within the range of the assistance in employment of the
disabled.
Article
35 The competent
authorities of individual levels in charge of labor shall encourage the
departments (institutions) that perform excellently in employing the
disabled.
Regulations on the encouragement referred to in the preceding paragraph
shall be prescribed by the central competent authority in charge of
labor.
Article
36 The municipal and county (city)
competent authorities in charge of labor shall open an exclusive account of
employment fund for the disabled to deposit the subsidies received in accordance
with Paragraph 3 of Article 31 and, in addition to subsidizing the departments
(institutions) employing the disabled pursuant to this Act, shall use this
account to improve the employment rights and interests of the
disabled.
The fund referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be excluded from
the annual budget of the government. Regulations on the incomes &
expenditures, safekeeping, and utilization of the exclusive account shall be
prescribed by the corresponding municipal or county (city) competent authority
in charge of labor.
Article
37 Anyone other than
the vision disabled referred to in this Act may not be engaged in massage, with
the only exemption that the medical and nursing personnel may utilize massage to
cure the patients.
The disabled with sight malfunction may, after having taken the
professional training and obtained the qualification, be engaged in massage in
specified places.
To be engaged in massage or physiotherapy massage, the disabled with
sight malfunction shall apply for the massage or physiotherapy massage
practicing permit at the competent authority at the location of practicing.
Regulations on issuance, replacement, renewal and abolishment of the
above-mentioned qualification and permit as well as other related affairs shall
be prescribed by the central competent authority together with the central
competent authority in charge of health.
Chapter
5 Welfare
Services
Article
38 The municipal and
county (city) competent authorities shall, according to the class, grade, and
family economic conditions of the disabled, provide the disabled in their
governed districts with subsidies for their livelihood, nursing, maintenance,
and other expenses necessary for their welfare. And there shall be no limit on
the time of setting the domiciles.
Regulations
on the subsidies referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be prescribed by
the central competent authority.
To
handle the affairs mentioned in the first paragraph, the municipal and county
(city) competent authorities shall, on their own initiative and before the end
of each accounting year, reexamine the documents concerning the approved subsidy
cases and those provided by the related departments. However, where it is deemed
as necessary for examination or alteration of the applicant’s qualification, the
competent authorities may request the applicant to provide the related
certification documents.
Article
39 The municipal and
county (city) competent authorities may, according to the actual requirements,
provide places, equipments, and funds or consolidate the resources of the
private sector in other ways to provide welfare services for the disabled. The
implementation regulations shall be prescribed by the central competent
authority.
Article
40 To assist the
disabled to obtain continuous care, the municipal and county (city) competent
authorities shall provide or consolidate the resources of the private sector to
provide the following home services:
1.
Home
nursing;
2.
Home
care;
3.
Assistance
in household chores;
4.
Friendly
visits;
5.
Greetings
by telephone;
6.
Brining
meals home;
7.
Improvement
of the environment inside and around the house;
8.
Other
related home services.
Article
41 To reinforce the
willingness and capability of the families to take care of the disabled, the
municipal and county (city) competent authorities shall provide or consolidate
the resources of the private sector to provide the following community
services:
1.
Rehabilitation
services;
2.
Psychological
consultation;
3.
Day
care;
4.
Temporary
and short-term care;
5.
Catering
services;
6.
Transport
services;
7.
Recreation
services;
8.
Vocational
education;
9.
Information
services;
10. Referring
services;
11. Other
related community services.
Article
42 To connect the
welfare demand of the disabled in different stages of their careers, the related
departments in the municipal and county (city) competent authorities shall
aggressively communicate and coordinate with each other and work out career
change and connection plans to provide the disabled with complete and continuous
services.
Article
43 To ensure that the
disabled can still be taken care and secured when their lineal relatives or
supporters are old, the central competent authority shall, together with the
related competent authorities in charge of specific business, establish secured
maintenance guarding system and property trust system for the disabled.
Article
44 When the disabled
participate in social insurance, the government shall, according to their family
economic conditions and the grade of disability, subsidize them for the part of
the premium that shall be paid by the disabled themselves. The premium of the
disabled with serious or very serious malfunctions shall be wholly burdened by
the government.
Regulations on the subsidization for premium referred to in the preceding
paragraph shall be prescribed by the central competent
authority.
Article
45 Upon planning the
national pension system, the government shall first include the disabled into
the system.
Article
46 The government
shall, according to the grade of disability and the family economic conditions
of the disabled, reduce or exempt the taxes to be paid by the disabled or their
supporters.
Where a tax payer or his/her spouse or supported family member who
returns the tax together with the tax payer is disabled, it is allowed to record
the special reduction amount in favor of the disabled on the tax return, and the
amount is determined in the Income Tax Act.
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